Category Archives: Theme

Most of us know that spending time outside is so much better for us than staying inside for our physical and mental health. Sunlight and fresh air have restorative benefits that we should take advantage of. A lot of people love going to the beach or mountains during summer since the kids are out of school.

Parasailing was one of the fun things to do at the resort.

My daughter and I spent one week in June in a beautiful resort called Vidanta in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico. We spent our days at the beach and the pool. Digging your feet in the sand actually stimulates your nerves. During the hottest part of the days we just hung out in our room, we also had our own pool in our balcony with ocean view. The days were also spent trying out an assortment of food from many fancy restaurants. It was a fun experience for both of us.

It was a surprise to me that there weren’t a lot of seagulls at the beach. The majority of the birds I saw were brown pelicans.

This seagull seems to be saying “Go away! This is mine!”

What we did that we enjoyed the most was watching the sunset while swimming at the pool. It was very relaxing. And the sunsets at Bandera Bay were so beautiful. The colors were magnificent.

Peaceful way to end the day.

Throughout the day, a few sailboats and motorboats go by. This was taken from the balcony of my room.

The waves get high.

Usually, when I take photos of a scene that includes strangers who actually enhance the scene, if possible I make sure that they are not identifiable in my photos. This is mainly because I myself don’t want to appear in other people’s photos without my permission. It’s my way of respecting their privacy the same way I want to be respected.

Just a few people swimming and watching the sunset. I have observed that there were more people walking along the beach in the morning, mostly runners and joggers. I prefer walks during sunset.

You’ve probably seen some photos online of weird but interesting looking tiny planets. This isn’t a new Photoshop project but I thought I’d make some of my own photos into my own Tiny Planets.

To start with, I selected a photo from our family’s recent trip this summer to the Northeast. The photo that I found that I thought would make a good Tiny Planet was shot in Maryland while we were on the road. My husband was driving and I was on the passenger seat of our motorhome.

My criteria for selecting this photo are:

Clear sky

Interesting subject

Similar things on each end of the photo – in this example I have trees that are quite similar in height and looks so I can easily blend them together.

Maryland farm with red barn – Original unedited

As you can see, this is just an ordinary photo, with boring sky, power lines, and some movement at the bottom since the vehicle was moving fast. I didn’t even roll down the window when I took this photo. Nothing exciting here, just a snapshot.

In order to use this for my tiny planet creation, I had to make it into a panorama. I cropped the top and the bottom of the photo and I also did some minor adjustments to make the colors pop a little. This is what it looks like after some minor tweaking.

For the past few months, I have been feeling kind of uninspired as far as my photography goes. I have not gone walking and exploring nature in awhile. Even going for a walk which used to be fun felt like a chore so I didn’t really go out. So many beautiful sunrises and sunsets have gone by, yet I have not even picked up my camera to shoot. For some reason, I just didn’t feel like shooting anything just for fun. I have been telling myself that I have seen better or that I’ll see another beautiful sunrise or sunset again soon so I’ll just wait. Who am I kidding? I’ve lost a lot of opportunity to shoot, and the awesome sunrises and sunsets are not going to be exactly the same. Each one is different. And it’s not just sunrises and sunsets. I have had opportunities to shoot some photos of my parents before they left a few days ago to move to another state. I have always pictured some shots of them in my mind but have not taken time to ask them to allow me to make those photos. And now what? It’s too late. I’ve missed a lot of chances. And yes, as we know it, regret is always in the end.

Just to get me back into the groove, this past Sunday, I forced myself to walk around Lake Pflugerville as it’s the closest trail from my house. I didn’t take my mirrorless camera which used to always hang around my waist in my little belt bag every time I go for a walk. I figured I’ll just walk for exercise and not take photos at all. But as soon as I saw the beautiful sunflowers, there was a feeling of excitement. They were not perfect as you can see but the yellow color of the sunflower against the blue color of water and sky was just very appealing to me. So I grabbed my phone and took several shots.

It’s been awhile since I have posted in my personal photo project (3P52) so I thought I’d do one this time. For this week’s inspiration, I thought about photographing things that most of us come in contact with – inanimate things that we touch once or even more every single day. These are things we leave our fingerprints and our scent on.

All the shots today were taken from my Nikon D7000 camera using 18-105mm lens and Nikon SB900 flash. No special setup done as far as background or lighting except for using my flash. Images were processed in Adobe Lightroom and MacPhun software. One of the main reasons I did this shoot today is to play with the different MacPhun applications. I used the MacPhun Intensify Pro, MacPhun Focus 2 Pro, MacPhun Tonality Pro. I got these for Christmas as a present from my husband and so far I’m having a lot of fun with them. I love the software but beware of their customer service. Their customer service is close to none.*

But anyway, for this week’s theme I’d start with a doorknob or a door handle. Everyone goes in and out of doors every day, whether it be the door in your house or a car, there’s a knob or handle that we touch to open and/or close it. For this shot, you might notice that there’s some sort of texture on the handle itself, and that is because there is. I added a paper texture and brushed it on the handle to make it look interesting. I also put some “phun” into it by adding a little bit of motion using the application.

Everyday Ordinary – Door Handle

Next is toothbrush. Everyone brushes their teeth (I hope) at least once a day. Even young children can hold their own toothbrush and brush their teeth. I wanted to focus the arched design on the surface as I thought this was the most interesting part of this toothbrush. I took this shot from my bathroom sink.

Fall is my favorite season. The weather is nice and the colors are beautiful. I have not seen beautiful fall colors since we moved from Pennsylvania to Texas seven years ago. So I really miss it.

This year, we were very blessed to be able to go to Oswego, NY to visit my brother-in-law and his wife and enjoy fall once again (even for just a week). I was so ready to fall for fall once again. The leaves in the Adirondacks where we were originally planning on visiting past peak and most of the leaves have fallen but where we stayed, the leaves were just at peak or about to peak so we were there at the right time. Prior to arrival, the area had 12 gorgeous days but then the wind came and blew a lot of the leaves off but nevertheless it was still so beautiful. I loved the crisp fresh air and the smell of pine needles, the beautiful mix of leaves in shades of red, yellow and orange on the ground, the smell of forest after the rain, the green moss on rocks, and water from rivers, ponds, streams, lakes. Wow! Just amazing. We don’t have this in Texas!

I captured so many photos from this trip that I have not even gone through looking at them all. But I am so excited to share my photos so I scanned through them and picked one photo taken for each day we were in New York.